The Book and the Movie: Rebecca | Daphne du Maurier, 1938 / Alfred Hitchcock, 1940
Rebecca (1938) is a novel by English author Daphne du Maurier. Daphne du Maurier always said her novel Rebecca was a study in jealousy. The novel is particularly notable for the character
Mrs. Danvers, the fictional estate Manderley, and its opening lines:
Mrs. Danvers, the fictional estate Manderley, and its opening lines:
“Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind.”
“She paused. She went on looking at me, watching my eyes. ‘Do you think she can see us,
talking to one another now?’ she said slowly. ‘Do you think the dead come back and
watch the living?’”
talking to one another now?’ she said slowly. ‘Do you think the dead come back and
watch the living?’”
“I suppose sooner or later in the life of everyone comes a moment of trial. We all of us have our
“There were no shadows between us any more, and when we were silent it was
“If only there could be an invention that bottled up a memory, like scent. And it never faded, and it never got stale.
And then, when one wanted it, the bottle could be uncorked, and it would be like living the moment all over again.”
“Why don’t you jump now and have done with it? Then you won’t be unhappy any more.”
“I wondered how many people there were in the world who suffered, and continued to suffer,
because they could not break out from their own web of shyness and reserve, and in their
blindness and folly built up a great distorted wall in front of them that hid the truth.”
because they could not break out from their own web of shyness and reserve, and in their
blindness and folly built up a great distorted wall in front of them that hid the truth.”
“The road to Manderley lay ahead. There was no moon. The sky above our heads was inky
black. But the sky on the horizon was not dark at all. It was shot with crimson, like a
splash of blood. And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea.”
black. But the sky on the horizon was not dark at all. It was shot with crimson, like a
splash of blood. And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea.”
Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier, 1938
Rebecca (1940)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders
On the set of Rebecca in 1939 with Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier
A couple watching the playbill of the film Rebecca by
Alfred Hitchcock, Italy, 1950 / Photo by Angelo Cozzi
Alfred Hitchcock, Italy, 1950 / Photo by Angelo Cozzi